The recent proliferation of video cassette players and recorders has created a new market for video taped advertisements and messages. This new market has created an enormous demand for inexpensive and lightweight limited use video cassette cartridges that are suitable for mailing. These cassettes are also suitable for non-commercial recordings such as public service announcements and personal messages sent to family and friends.
Prior art attempts to construct lightweight limited use video cassette cartridges have been generally unsuccessful. For example, many prior art video cassette cartridges contain numerous individual parts formed of various materials. The use of such a great number and variety of parts raises the cost and manufacturing time of the cassette cartridges and defeats recyclability. Additionally, prior art video cassette cartridges are formed of heavier materials, and thus are costly to transport and mail.
The applicants of the present application have designed novel cassette cartridges that have successfully overcome many of the problems associated with prior art lightweight limited use video cassette cartridges. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,881 discloses a lightweight video cassette cartridge that performs all of the functions of a permanent-use video cassette cartridge, but comprises only 8 parts, all made of lightweight recyclable materials. Application Ser. No. 08/321 257 discloses a lightweight video cassette cartridge including a passive reel braking system that replaces more complicated and expensive active braking systems found in prior art cassette cartridges. Application Ser. No. 08/343,369 discloses a lightweight video cassette cartridge including a solid-core that adds structural rigidity to the cassette cartridge while replacing the conventional parts of prior art cassette cartridges.
Applicants have recently discovered a new improvement that solves another limitation in prior art lightweight limited use video cassette cartridges. In particular, prior art limited use cassette cartridges include dust covers that are either hinged to the cassette housing or separately formed and removable from the cassette housing. The hinged dust covers require metal hinges that defeat the recyclability of the cartridge and are costly. The removable dust covers often slip off the cartridge during shipping and handling, resulting in damage to the exposed video tape. Moreover, these removable dust covers add to the number of parts of the cassette cartridge and are frequently lost once removed.
Thus, there is a need for an improved lightweight video cassette cartridge that overcomes the limitations described above.